Last Saturday, we took a trip to a turn of the century (1900) village in Hastings Township: Historic Charlton Park. We thought it would be crowded on the weekend, but we’d assumed wrong. Only half the buildings were open and there were no volunteers in period dress. Even so, it is a great sampling of late 19th century buildings and items.

The first building we walked into was the carpenter’s shop. I was immediately struck by the smell and the of the memory it provoked of my grandfather’s out buildings on his farm in southern Ohio. His was a farm handed down the family for generations, the house and barn loaded with antiques – not unlike the visual intake of the Charlton Park Carpenter’s Shop.

There was a barber shop with backroom bathtub, a spring house for pre-electrical “refrigeration, a main street with a street clock…

of course, a one-room schoolhouse…

and the church which was locked but from the outside amazing natural stained glass windows.

There was also the pre-European history mentioned.

Another part of the park is the picnic and beach area. Because of the rain and high water lately there was barely any beach, and the back road was closed from high water.

Try going during the week for a more personal informational visit, or during any of their special events, like the Civil War reenactment. If you haven’t been there yet, or haven’t gone for a while, do. Here’s their website link: https://www.charltonpark.org/